Method for creating short message and portable terminal using the same

ABSTRACT

A method for automatically creating a short message and a portable terminal using the same includes extracting at least one word expected to be input from a database provided in the portable terminal when a message creation menu is selected. At least one input expected word that has been extracted is then displayed. At least one word that is recognized is selected from among the displayed at least one input expected word; and inputting the selected word to a text message creation window. A user can create a short message without having to input words one-by-one through a keyboard.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119from Korean patent application No. 10-2009-0027414 filed on Mar. 31,2009, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to portable terminals using shortmessaging. More particularly, the present invention relates to a methodfor creating a short message using short message service (SMS) by aportable terminal.

2. Description of the Related Art

With the relatively recent advent of portable terminals, such devicesare now considered by many to be an essential part of modern society.Portable terminals provide various functions for the convenience of theuser, into addition to a voice call function. A short message service(SMS), now one of the main functions of a portable terminal, is widelyused for communication between terminal users, and can be referred to as“text messaging”. Occupying communication channels in non-real time, theSMS is advantageous in that its communication costs are low and channeloccupancy time is brief. Also, while it is preferable to deliver themessage as soon as possible, there is no requirement for a real-timecommunication. In addition, the SMS is advantageous in that accuratecontent can transferred via a simple sentence and a message can berecorded and stored so as to be repeatedly read, forwarded, etc. Withsuch user convenience, the usage rate of the SMS portable terminal usersis increasing.

In general, a user creates a message by using a keypad or a touch screenof a portable terminal. The keypad and the touch screen are configuredas a keyboard in a 3×4 form or a QWERTY form. The user creates words oneby one by using the keyboard, and in this case, creating every word oneby one with the keyboard is quite inconvenient and cumbersome. In fact,both the 3×4 form and the QWERTY form have drawbacks in that the 3×4keyboard sometimes requires multiple pressing of keys to select a singleletter, and the QWERTY keyboard is very small on a portable terminal.

In particular, there may be a general phrase (or sentence), wordsfrequently used by the user, emoticons, etc., in creating a shortmessage, so newly inputting them each time through the keyboard wastestime for the user. In fact, many users, particularly the younger users,try to shorten the time it takes to create a message by abbreviating thetext using single letters for some words, such as “c” for “see” and “UR” for “You are”, etc. However, sometimes the abbreviated text is notcompletely understood at the receiving end.

Thus, there is a need in the art for a method that improves theconvenience of sending short messages with a portable terminal.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method for allowing a user to create ashort message without having to input words one by one through akeyboard.

The present invention further provides a portable terminal adapted tothe inventive method for allowing a user to create a short messagewithout having to input words one by one through a keyboard.

In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, thepresent invention provides a method for creating a short message of aportable terminal, the method preferably includes: extracting at leastone word expected to be input from a database provided in the portableterminal when a message creation menu is selected; displaying at leastone input expected word which has been extracted; recognizing that atleast one word is selected from among the displayed at least one inputexpected word; and inputting the selected word to a text messagecreation window.

In accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, the present invention provides a portable terminal forautomatically creating a short message preferably includes: a storageunit for storing at least one word; an input expected word extractingunit for extracting an input expected word among the at least one wordstored in the storage unit; a priority determining unit for determininga priority level of the extracted input expected word; and a displayunit for displaying the extracted input expected word according to thedetermined priority level in a text message creation window.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features and advantages of the present invention will become moreapparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art from the followingdetailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a portable terminal for creatinga short message according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 a is a schematic block diagram of a storage unit according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 b is a schematic block diagram of a controller according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary operation of a process ofcreating a short message according to a first exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 4 a illustrates a screen shot of a word list database according tothe first exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 b and FIG. 4 c illustrate a screen shot of a word list databaseaccording to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 a illustrates a text message creation screen shot according tothe first exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 b illustrates a screen shot with a changed input expected wordlist according to the first exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary operation of a process ofcreating a short message according to the second exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 7 a illustrates a screen shot for select ing a reply messagecreation menu by a user according to the second exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 7 b illustrates a text message creation screen on a display of aportable terminal according to the second exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 7 c illustrates a screen with a changed input expected word listaccording to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention aredescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Thesame reference numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer to thesame or similar parts. Detailed descriptions of well-known functions andstructures incorporated herein may be omitted to avoid obscuringappreciation of the subject matter of the present invention by a personof ordinary skill in the art. In embodiments of the present invention,it is preferable that a portable terminal is a mobile communicationterminal capable of transmitting and receiving a short message.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a portable terminal for creatinga short message according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the portable terminal preferably includes awireless communication unit 110, an audio processing unit 120, a storageunit 130, an input unit 140, a display unit 150, and a controller 160.

The wireless communication unit 110 may comprise a transceiver thattransmits and receives corresponding data for radio communication of theportable terminal. The wireless communication unit 110 may include an RFtransmitter for up-converting and amplifying the frequency of atransmitted signal and an RF receiver for low-noise-amplifying areceived signal and down-converting the frequency of the amplifiedsignal. Also, the wireless communication unit 110 may receive data via aradio channel and output the received data to the controller 180, andtransmit data outputted from the controller 180 via a radio channel. Thewireless communication unit 110 according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention serves to transmit and receive a short message.

The audio processing unit 120 may be configured as a CODEC, and theCODEC may include a data CODEC for processing packet data etc. and anaudio CODEC for processing an audio signal. The audio processing unit130 converts a digital audio signal into an audio signal through theaudio CODEC and reproduces it through a speaker SPK, and converts ananalog audio signal input from a microphone MIC into a digital audiosignal through the audio CODEC. The audio processing unit 120 accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may output acorresponding sound effect, such as an audible tone, when a shortmessage is transmitted or received. Of course, a vibration of the unit,for example, is one possible variation regarding an audible tone. Also,when the controller 160 displays input expected words on the displayunit 150 and one of the displayed input expected words is selected by auser, the audio processing unit 120 may output a corresponding soundeffect.

The storage unit 130 serves to store a program and data required tooperate the portable terminal. The storage unit 130 according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention preferably includes a wordlist database 132 and a user information database 134. FIG. 2 a is aschematic block diagram of the storage unit according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

The word list database 132 may be configured with words frequently usedby the user in creating a short message or words stored when theportable terminal is manufactured. The words stored when the portableterminal manufactured could be in a variety of languages. The word listdatabase 132 according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention may store words repeatedly used by more than a pre-set numberof times among words included in a text message list (e.g., anorigination message list) created by the user. Also, the word listdatabase 132 may store words starting from a word with the highestfrequency of use to a pre-set rank among the words included in theorigination message list. The word list database 132 according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention may store words which arerepeatedly used by more than the pre-set (predetermined) number of timesor words with a higher frequency of use within a certain range. Also,the word list database 132 may store relevant words (e.g., relevant maybe defined as “words which are frequently used together”) by group.According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the wordlist database 132 may store relevant words so that some words includedin a reception message are matched to an input expected word. Also, theword list database 132 may store input expected words by classifyingthem according to each phone number to which a short message is to betransmitted. The word list database 132 according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention may also store words that aregenerally frequently used in response to a customary phrase (or anidiom) by grouping them.

The user information database 134 refers to a database that storespersonal information about the user (s) and basic information such as aphone book, schedule information, date and time information, and a calllog. The words stored in the user information database 134 may beextracted as input expected words.

An input unit 140 receives a key manipulation signal from the user forcontrolling the portable terminal, and transfers the received keymanipulation signal to the controller 180. The input unit 140 may beconfigured as a keypad including number keys and direction keys, and maybe configured as a touch pad incase of a touch screen-based portableterminal. It is possible that the user could write the message bypressing a stylus against the touchpad. In case of a portable terminalhaving an image sensor, an acceleration sensor, etc., the sensors maycorrespond to the input unit 140. According to an exemplary embodimentof the present invention, the user may, for example, select a textmessage creation menu via the input unit 140, input an instruction forselecting one of the input expected words displayed on the display unit150, and input an instruction for deleting some words from among thedisplayed input expected words.

The display unit 150 may be configured as a liquid crystal display (LCD)or any other type of thin-film-technology type of screen and visuallyprovides menus of the portable terminal, input data, function settinginformation, and other information to the user. For example, the displayunit 150 performs a function of outputting a booting screen image, astandby screen image (or an idle screen image), a display screen image,a call screen image, and other application execution screen images ofthe portable terminal. The display unit 150 according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention serves to display input expectedwords and display a word selected by the user in a text message creationwindow.

The controller 160 controls a general operation of each element of theportable terminal. The controller 160, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, preferably includes an inputexpected word extracting unit 162, a word priority determining unit 164,a message analyzing unit 166, and a word list database updating unit168.

FIG. 2 b is a schematic block diagram of the controller 160 according toan exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring now to FIG. 2 b, the input expected word extracting unit 162serves to extract input expected words from the storage unit 130. Theinput expected word extracting unit 162 may extract the input expectedwords from the words stored in the word list database 132, or may alsoextract the input expected words from the words stored in the userinformation database 134. According to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention, the input expected word extracting unit 162 mayextract input expected words directly from an origination and receptionmessage list.

The word priority determining unit 164 serves to determine the prioritylevels of the input expected words extracted by the input expected wordextracting unit 162. All the extracted input expected words may have thesame priority level, or they may have different priority levels. Thedetermined priority levels are related to the display order of the inputexpected words.

The message analyzing unit 166 analyzes a reception message receivedfrom the wireless communication unit 110 and transmits the analysisresult to the input expected word extracting unit 162. The messageanalyzing unit 166 according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention serves to check a phone number to which a short message is tobe transmitted. Also, the message analyzing unit 166 serves todiscriminate among sentences included in the reception message bysentence, by phrase, by word-phrase, byword or by special character, forexample. When a sentence included in the reception message correspondsto a customary phrase stored in the storage unit 130, the messageanalyzing unit 166 may transmit the entire sentence as a key forextracting an input expected word, rather than discriminating thesentence by the words, to the input expected word extracting unit 162.The message analyzing unit 166 according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention may determine whether or not the sentence includedin the reception message corresponds to a declarative sentence or aninterrogative sentence, based not only punctuation, but on words such aswhere, how, why, etc. Also, the message analyzing unit 166 according toan exemplary embodiment of the present invention may serve todiscriminate among a particular sentence included in a currently createdmessage by sentence, by phrase, by word-phrase, by word or by specialcharacter.

When the creation of the short message is completed, the word listdatabase updating unit 168 serves to update the word list database 132by reflecting the words included in the created short message.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary operation of a processfor creating a short message according to a first exemplary embodimentof the present invention.

Now referring to FIG. 3, at step (305) the controller 160 recognizesthat the user selects the text message creation menu via the input unit140.

At step (310), the input expected word extracting unit 162 extracts aword expected to be input from the storage unit 130. The input expectedword extracting unit 162 may extract the input expected word from theword list database 132 or from the user information database 134. Theinput expected word extracting unit 162 may extract words with a highfrequency of use (i.e. as compared with a threshold) stored in the wordlist database 132 in an initial screen state of the text messagecreation window (namely, in a state in which the user does not input anycharacters).

FIG. 4 a illustrates an example of the word list database 132 accordingto the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The wordlist database 132 in FIG. 4 a stores words such as ‘OK’, ‘yup’, ‘gotit’, ‘No’, ‘Yes’, I got it', ‘Nope’, ‘Call’, ‘Thank you’, etc. Thesewords may correspond to the words which are frequently used by more thanthe pre-set number of times among the short messages (i.e., shortmessages constituting the origination message list) created by the user,and may correspond to the words starting from the first ranked word withthe highest frequency of use to the tenth ranked word. The number ofwords stored in the word list data base 132 may be changed according tothe capacity of the database, and the setting controlling the number ofwords in the word lost data base may be changed by the user. Accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the input expectedword extracting unit 162 may extract, for example, all the words storedin the word list database 132 or may extract only some of them. Forexample, the input expected word extracting unit 162 may extract onlyfive words with a high frequency of use from ten words stored in theword list database 132. Also, the input expected word extracting unit162 may extract an input expected word from words originally stored inthe portable terminal, in addition to the frequently used words.

Also, the input expected word extracting unit 162 may extract an inputexpected word directly from the origination and reception message list,rather than extracting a word from the word list database 132. Forexample, if fifty messages are stored in the origination message list,the input expected word extracting unit 162 may extract words with thefrequency of use satisfying pre-set conditions (e.g., they have beenrepeatedly used more than a certain number of times) directly from thefifty stored messages.

In addition, the input expected word extracting unit 162 may extract aninput expected word from the words stored in the user informationdatabase 134. The user information database 134 includes, for example,personal information of the user and basic information such as a phonebook, schedule information, date and time information, and a call log,and the input expected word extracting unit 162 extracts a word or asentence constituting the personal information of the user from the userinformation database 134. For example, if ‘Birthday of Thomas’ has beenrecorded in Mar. 25, 2009 in the schedule (or schedule management) menuwhen the user creates a short message in Mar. 25, 2009, the inputexpected word extracting unit 162 may extract ‘Mar. 25, 2009’ as inputexpected word and also extracts ‘Thomas’ and ‘Birthday’.

At step (315), the controller 160 controls the display unit 150 todisplay the extracted input expected words. According to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, the word priority determining unit164 may determine priority levels of the words extracted by the inputexpected word extracting unit 162 and the controller 160 may control thedisplay unit 150 to display the extracted input expected words accordingto the determined priority levels. For example, when the word prioritydetermining unit 164 determines the priority levels of the extractedinput expected words according to their respective frequencies of use,the controller 160 controls the display unit 150 to display theextracted words in the order starting from the one with the highestfrequency of use. Also, the word priority determining unit 164 maydetermine, for example, the priority levels of the words extracted fromthe word list database 132 and the words extracted from the userinformation database 134. According to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention, the display unit 150 may discriminately display atext message creation region, an input expected word display region, anda keyboard display region. Also, the display unit 150 may discriminatelydisplay the words extracted from the word list database 132 and thewords extracted from the user information database 134. The referencefor determining the number and priority of words displayed in the inputexpected word display region may be set by the user. These words willfacilitate a faster and easier response by the user.

FIG. 5 a illustrates a text message creation screen according to thefirst exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 a di splaysthe text message creation region, the input expected word displayregion, and the keyboard display region, and five input expected wordsare displayed in the input expected word display region.

Still referring to FIG. 3, at step (320), the controller 160 determineswhether or not one of the input expected words displayed on the displayunit 150 is selected by the user by controlling the input unit 140. Whenthe input unit 140 is configured as a touch screen, the user touchesregion where a chosen word is selected. Also, the user may touch (or tapvia a stylus) the region where the chosen word is selected and draw itto the text message creation region to input the corresponding word tothe text message creation region.

When the input unit 140 is configured as a keypad, the user may select aword by using the direction keys etc. provided in the keypad. Also,according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the usermay input an instruction for deleting words determined to be unnecessaryamong the input expected words displayed on the display unit 150 fromthe input expected word list through the input unit 1400. The number ofwords that may be displayed in the input expected word region istypically limited, so the words extracted by the input expected wordextracting unit 162 may not all be displayed on one screen. When theuser inputs the instruction of deleting some words from the inputexpected word list through the input unit 140, the controller 160controls the display unit 150 to delete the deletion-requested wordsfrom the input expected word list and display words from the nextpriority levels. Also, the controller 160 may control the display unit150 to delete the deletion-requested words and not display words of thenext priority levels according to a user setting.

At step (325), when one of the words is selected by the user at 320, theinput expected word extracting unit 162 extracts words linked to theselected word. The input expected word extracting unit 162 may alsoextract the words from the word list database 132 or from the userinformation database 134 at 325. According to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention, the word list database 132 may store relevantwords by grouping them.

For example, if the user frequently inputs ‘OK’ after ‘yup’, the wordlist database 132 groups ‘yup’ and ‘OK’ to store them. In this case,when ‘yup’ is selected by the user at step 320, the input expected wordextracting unit 162 extracts ‘OK’ from the word list database 132. Also,when word form transformation words (i.e., words formed by transforminga word form) or meaning-related words (e.g., tense, singular form/pluralform, an antonym, synonym, etc.) are linked and stored in the word listdatabase 132, the input expected word extracting unit 162 extracts thewords.

For example, if the word ‘have’ is displayed in the input expected wordregion and the user selects ‘have’, the input expected word extractingunit 162 extracts ‘has’, ‘had’, ‘don't have’, etc., the word formtransformation words of ‘have’ from the word list database 132. The wordform transformation words or meaning-related words may correspond to,for example, words stored in the storage unit 130 when the portableterminal is manufactured, or may correspond to words stored according touser input. Also, according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, the input expected word extracting unit 162 may extract aword linked to the selected word from the user information database 134.For example, when the user selects ‘home’ from among the input expectedwords, the input expected word extracting unit 162 may extract a phonenumber related to ‘home’ from the user information database 134.

At step (330), the controller 160 controls the display unit 150 todisplay the extracted input expected word. If a word not previouslydisplayed at step 315 is newly extracted, the controller 160 controlsthe display unit 150 to display the newly extracted word at step 330.According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the wordpriority determining unit 164 may determine the overall priority levelsof the extracted words, and the display unit 150 may display the inputexpected words according to the determined priority levels. According toan exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the word prioritydetermining unit 164 may determine the word newly extracted inputexpected words at step 325 as a word with the highest priority level,and the display unit 150 may display the newly extracted word so that itis positioned at the top of the list of input expected words.

FIG. 5 b illustrates a screen of a portable terminal with a changedinput expected word list according to the first exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention. In FIG. 5 b, as the user selects ‘yup’, ‘OK’linked to ‘yup’ is displayed to be positioned first among the inputexpected words. According to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, the word form transformation words, or the meaning-relatedwords, may be displayed on a separate menu screen, rather than beingdisplayed together in the input expected word region.

According to an exemplary embodiment, when a word linked to the wordselected by the user has been already-extracted at step 310 oralready-displayed at step 315, the word priority determining unit 164readjusts the priority levels of the input expected words, and thecontroller 160 controls the display unit 150 to display the inputexpected words according to the adjusted priority levels. According toan exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the display unit 150may display the linked words so that they are positioned at the top ofthe input expected word list. However, a person of ordinary skillunderstands and appreciates that the positioning of the linked words maybe arranged differently than shown and described herein.

Now, at step (335), the controller 160 controls the input unit 140 todetermine whether or not a creation completion key is input by the user.

When the creation completion key is input at 335, then at step (340) thecontroller 160 terminates the message creation process. Subsequently,the controller 160 controls the wireless communication unit 110 totransmit the created message to an external source according to a userinstruction.

At step (345), the word list database updating unit 168 updates the wordlist database 132. The transmitted short message is stored in theorigination message list, and the word list database updating unit 168analyzes the words of the short messages included in the originationmessage list and newly configures the words stored in the word listdatabase 132. The word list stored in the word list database 132 may bechanged according to the word configuration included in the transmittedshort message, or may remain the same.

Returning to step (320), if none of the input expected words displayedon the display unit 150 is selected at step, then at step (350) thecontroller 160 controls the input unit 140 to determine whether or notthe keyboard is pressed. In the present invention, the term ‘keyboard’comprises an input unit provided to input characters, which may beconfigured as a 3×4 pad or QWERTY pad form. The keyboard may bedisplayed on a portion of the display unit 150 based on a touch screen,or may be configured in a keypad form. When the user wants to input anew word in addition to the words displayed as the input expected words,he/she directly inputs characters through the keyboard. The controller160 recognizes the characters input by the user via the input unit 140,and at step (355) the input expectedword extracting unit 162 extractspre-set input expected words correspondingly according to the charactersinput by the user.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, at step(350), when a word linked to the character input by the user is storedin the word list database 132 or in the user information database 134,the input expected word extracting unit 162 may extract the inputexpected words from the word list database 132 or from the userinformation database 134.

For example, if the user inputs ‘Thomas’ through the keyboard at step350, the input expected word extracting unit 162 may extract the phonenumber of ‘Thomas’ from the phone book of the user information database134. Other information can be extracted in stead of or in addition thephone number. Also, when the user inputs ‘Tomorrow’ at step 350, theinput expected word extracting unit 162 may extract ‘Mar. 26 ’corresponding to tomorrow's date. When the input expected wordextracting unit 162 extracts the word, the controller 160 controls thedisplay unit 150 to display the extracted input expected word at step330 and performs the following process.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating the process of creating a shortmessage according to the second exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring now to FIG. 6, at step (605), the controller controls thewireless communication unit 110 to receive a short message.Subsequently, at step (610), the controller 160 controls the input unit140 to determine whether or not a reply message creation menu isselected by the user. FIG. 7 a is a screen shot for selecting the replymessage creation menu by the user according to the second exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

At step (615), the message analyzing unit 166 analyzes the receivedmessage. The message analyzing unit 166 may recognize the received shortmessage by sentence, by phrase, by word-phrase, by word or by specialcharacter. With reference to FIG. 7 a, when a short message of ‘Whereare you now?’ is received at step 605, the message analyzing unit 166can recognize ‘Where are you now?’ as one sentence, and also recognizesthe short message by discriminating it by the words such as ‘You’,‘Now’, ‘Where’, ‘Are’, ‘?’. The sentence or phrase included in thereception message is customarily or commonly used, so when suchcustomary sentence or phrase is stored in the word list database 132,the message analyzing unit 166 may recognize the short message bysentence or phrase, not by word. According to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention, the message analyzing unit 166 may determine asentence form. For example, the message analyzing unit 166 may determinewhether or not the sentences included in the reception messagecorresponds to interrogative sentences or declarative sentences. Themessage analyzing unit 166 analyzes the sentence form according to apre-set algorithm, and determines whether or not the sentences areinterrogative sentences or declarative sentences based on whether or nota question mark is included in the sentences, whether or notinterrogatives (i.e., what, how, etc.) are positioned at the front ofthe sentences, and whether or not an auxiliary verb is positioned at thefront of the sentences. Also, for example, if the sentence is aninterrogative sentence, the message analyzing unit 166 may determinewhether or not the sentence starts with an interrogative or with anauxiliary verb.

FIG. 4 b and FIG. 4 c illustrate the word list database according to thesecond exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 billustrates the word list database 132 storing input expected wordscorresponding to the words included in the reception message. In FIG. 4b, ‘Me’, ‘You’, and ‘Mom’ are stored as input expected wordscorresponding to ‘Who’, ‘Tomorrow’, ‘Today’, and ‘12 o'clock’ are storedas input expected words corresponding to ‘When’ and ‘At what time’, and‘Home’, ‘Office’, and ‘School’ are stored as input expected wordscorresponding to ‘Where’. Words related to people, words related totime, and words related to an area are stored in the storage unit 130when the portable terminal is manufactured, and the word list databaseupdating unit 168 may select the words with the high frequency of usefrom the previously stored words and store the same in the word listdatabase 132. For example, ‘Me’, ‘You’, ‘Dad’, ‘Mom’, etc., are storedas words meaning people, and when the user frequently uses ‘Me’, ‘You’,and ‘Mom’, the word list database 132 stores Me', ‘You’, and ‘Mom’.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the usermay directly register an input expected word. For example, when the userwants to add the name ‘Thomas’ to the word list database 132, the usermay edit the word list database 132 by using a word list database updatemenu provided in the portable terminal. Key words for extracting theinput extracted words from the words included in the reception messageare ‘Who’, ‘When’, Where’, etc. With reference to FIG. 7 a, the messageanalyzing unit 166 determines ‘Where’ among the words included in thereception message, as a key word.

In the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the messageanalyzing unit 166 may determine where messages are sent. The messageanalyzing unit 166 may check a phone number that is to receive a createdmessage, and transmit the same to the input expected word extractingunit 162. FIG. 4 c illustrates the word list database 132 storing inputexpected words discriminated according to phone numbers which are toreceive a message. According to the present exemplary embodiment, theword list database updating unit 168 primarily discriminates messagesaccording to phone numbers which are to receive a message andsecondarily discriminates among the messages according to key wordsincluded in the reception message for extracting the input expectedwords. In this case, the message analyzing unit 166 transmits the phonenumber to which the message is to be transmitted and the informationregarding the key words included in the reception message to the inputexpected word extracting unit 162.

At step (620), the input expected word extracting unit 162 extractsinput expected words from the words stored in the storage unit 130.According to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention,the input expected word extracting unit 162 may extract the words storedin the word list database 132 or the words stored in the userinformation database 134. When the input expected word extracting unit162 receives only the information regarding the key word included in thereception message from the message analyzing unit 166, it extracts inputexpected words previously set to correspond to the key word. Also, theinput expected word extracting unit 162 may extract words with a highfrequency of use in addition to the input expected words previously setto correspond to the key word included in the reception message. Forexample, with reference to FIG. 4 b, the input expected word extractingunit 162 may also extract ‘OK’, ‘Yup’, ‘Got it’, etc., in addition to‘Home’, ‘Office’, ‘School’ previously set to correspond to ‘Where’.Also, the input expected word extracting unit 162 may extract wordsincluded in the reception message. In many cases, the words included inthe reception message are frequently used in a reply message, so theinput expected word extracting unit 162 extracts the words used in thereception message.

If a sentence or a phrase included in the reception message is stored asa customary sentence or phrase in the word list database 132, the inputexpected word extracting unit 162 extracts stored words that correspondto the customary sentence or phrase. For example, when ‘I'm’, ‘fine’,‘thank’, and ‘you’ are stored to correspond to the customary phrase ‘Howare you?’ as shown in FIG. 4, the input expected word extracting unit162 extracts the stored words. Also, when a sentence included in thereception message is analyzed as an interrogative sentence starting withan auxiliary verb by the message analyzing unit 166, the input expectedword extracting unit 162 extracts a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ stored to correspondthereto.

When the input expected word extracting unit 162 receives phone numberinformation to which a message is to be transmitted and informationregarding a key word included in the reception message together from themessage analyzing unit 166, the input expected word extracting unit 162may extract input expected words stored to correspond to the phonenumber information. For example, as shown in FIG. 4 c, when the phonenumber to which a message is to be transmitted is ‘010-8856-7776’ andthe key word included in the reception message is ‘Where’, the inputexpected word extracting unit 162 extracts ‘Home’ and may also extractthe words ‘OK’, ‘Yup’, and ‘Got it’. The input expected words stored inthe word list database 132 may be updated according to the frequency ofuse (i.e., how frequently the user uses them), or may be changed as theuser can also directly sets the stored words. Also, the input expectedword extracting unit 162 may extract the entire word stored in the wordlist database 132 or only some of them.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the inputexpected word extracting unit 162 may extract the input expected wordsdirectly from the origination or reception message list, not from theword list database 132. Namely, the input expected word extracting unit162 may extract words with a frequency of use satisfying certainconditions from the words included in the origination message list andmay extract words included in the reception message list. Also, theinput expected word extracting unit 162 may extract input expected wordsfrom the user information database 134. For example, when a particularname is included in the reception message, the input expected wordextracting unit 162 may extract a phone number corresponding to the namefrom the user information database 134.

At step (625), the controller 160 controls the display unit 150 todisplay the extracted input expected words. Also, in the secondexemplary embodiment of the present invention, the word prioritydetermining unit 164 may determine the priority levels of the inputexpected words extracted from the input expected word extracting unit162 and the controller 160 may control the display unit 150 to displaythe input expected words according to the determined priority levels. Inan exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the display unit 150may discriminately display one or more of a text message creationregion, an input expected word display region, and a keyboard displayregion. Also, the display unit 150 may discriminately display the wordsstored in the word list database 132 and the words stored in the userinformation database 134.

FIG. 7 b is a display of a text message creation screen according to thesecond exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The input expectedword display region in FIG. 7 b includes words extracted by the inputexpected word extracting unit 162. In FIG. 7 b, ‘Home’, ‘Office’, and‘School’ indicate the results obtained by extracting the words stored tocorrespond to the key word ‘Where’ of the reception message from theword list database 132 in FIG. 4 b. In FIG. 7 b, ‘You’, ‘Now’, ‘Are’ arewords extracted from the received short message ‘Where are you now?’Also, ‘OK’ is a word extracted from the word list ('OK', ‘Yup’, ‘Gotit’, ‘No’, ‘Yes’, ‘I got it’) with the high frequency of use in additionto the words previously set to correspond to the key word of thereception message from the word list database 132 of FIG. 4 b. The wordpriority determining unit 164 determines the priority levels of theextracted words, and the reference based on which the priority levelsare determined may be changed according to a setting. According to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention, the number of inputexpected words displayed on the display unit 150 may be changedaccording to a user-changeable setting. Also, the input expected wordsdisplayed on the display unit 150 may include only the words stored tocorrespond to the key word of the reception message or may include wordswith a high frequency of user in addition to the words stored tocorrespond to the key word of the reception message according to a usersetting. Also, the input expected words may include only the wordsextracted from the user information database 134 according to a usersetting.

The controller 160 controls input unit 140 to determine whether or notone of the input expected words displayed on the display unit 150 isselected by the user (630). When one of the words is selected by theuser, the input expected word extracting unit 162 extracts words linkedto the selected word at step 625. Also, the input expected wordextracting unit 162 may extract the linked words from the word listdatabase 132 or from the user information database 134 at step 625. When‘Yup’ and ‘OK’ are stored in a group in the word list database 132, if‘Yup’ is selected by the user at step 630, the input expected wordextracting unit 162 extracts ‘OK’ from the word list database 132.According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the inputexpected word extracting unit 162 may extract the word set to correspondto the word selected at step 630 from the user information database 134.As shown in FIG. 7 c, when the user selects ‘home’, the input expectedword extracting unit 162 may extract a phone number related to ‘home’from the user information database 134. Also, in the second exemplaryembodiment, the user may delete a word determined to be unnecessaryamong the input expected words displayed on the display unit 150, andaccordingly, the input expected word extracting unit 162 may extract anew word as an input expected word and the word priority determiningunit 164 may readjust the priority levels of the extracted inputexpected words.

At step (640), the controller 160 may control the display unit 150 todisplay the extracted input expected words. If a word not displayed atstep (625) is newly extracted, the controller 160 controls the displayunit 150 to display the newly extracted word at step 640. According toan exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the word prioritydetermining unit 164 may determine the newly extracted word as a wordwith the highest priority level compared with the words extracted atstep 620, and the controller 160 may control the display unit 150 todisplay the newly extracted word so that it is positioned at the top ofthe list of input expected words.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, if theword linked to the word input by the user has been already extracted asan input expected word, the controller 160 cause display of the linkedword so that the linked word is positioned at the top of the list ofinput expected words at step 640. FIG. 7 c illustrates a screen with aninput expected word list changed as the user selects ‘Home’ according tothe second exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The inputexpected word extracting unit 162 extracts a phone number stored tocorrespond to ‘Home’ from the phone book of the user informationdatabase 134, the word priority determining unit 164 determines theextracted phone number to have the highest priority level, and thecontroller 160 controls the display unit 150 to display the extractedphone number in the input expected word region of the display unit 150.In the input expected word region of FIG. 7 c, ‘02-535-4370’ isdisplayed to be positioned at the top of the list.

At step (645), the controller 160 controls the input unit 140 todetermine whether or not a creation completion key is input by the user.

When the creation completion key is input, at step (650) the controller160 terminates the message creation process. Subsequently, thecontroller 160 controls the wireless communication unit 110 to transmitthe created message to an external portable terminal according to a userinstruction.

At step (655), the word list database updating unit 168 updates the wordlist database 132. The transmitted short message is stored in theorigination message list, and the word list database updating unit 168analyzes the words of the short messages included in the originationmessage list and newly configures the words stored in the word listdatabase 132. The word list stored in the word list database 132 may bechanged according to the word configuration included in the transmittedshort message, or may remain the same.

If none of the input expected words displayed on the display unit 150are selected at 630, at step (660) the controller 160 controls the inputunit 140 to determine whether or not the keyboard is pressed. Thecontroller 160 recognizes characters input by the user via the inputunit 140, and at step (665) the input expected word extracting unit 162extracts pre-set input expected words correspondingly according to thecharacter input by the user.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, when aword linked to the character input by the user is stored in the wordlist database 132, or in the user information database 134 at step 660,the input expected word extracting unit 162 extracts the input expectedwords from the word list database 132 or from the user informationdatabase 134. When the input expected word extracting unit 162 extractsthe word, the controller 160 controls the display unit 150 to displaythe extracted input expected word at step 640 and performs the following process.

According to this exemplary embodiment of the present invention, theuser can create a short message without having to input words one-by-onethrough a keyboard. Thus, the user can create a short message through asmaller number of key inputs or touch inputs, and the time taken forcreating the short message can be shortened. In addition, because asentence is created upon receiving a list of words expected to be input,a sensitive portable terminal using method can be provided to the user.

Although exemplary embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed in detail hereinabove, it should be understood that manyvariations and modifications of the basic inventive concept hereindescribed, which may will still fall within the spirit and scope of theexemplary embodiments of the present invention as defined in theappended claims.

The above-described methods according to the present invention can berealized in hardware or as software or computer code that can be storedin a recording medium such as a CD ROM, an RAM, a floppy disk, a harddisk, or a magneto-optical disk or downloaded over a network, so thatthe methods described herein can be rendered in such software using ageneral purpose computer, or a special processor or in programmable ordedicated hardware, such as an ASIC or FPGA. As would be understood inthe art, the computer, the processor Or the programmable hardwareinclude memory components, e.g., RAM, ROM, Flash, etc. that may store orreceive software or computer code that when accessed and executed by thecomputer, processor or hardware implement the processing methodsdescribed herein.

1. A method for creating a short message for transmission by a portableterminal, the method comprising: extracting at least one word expectedto be input (input expected word) from a database provided in theportable terminal when a message creation menu is selected; displayingsaid at least one input expected word that has been extracted;recognizing at least one word has been selected from among said at leastone input expected word; and inputting the selected word to a textmessage creation window.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:extracting one or more relevant words linked to the inputting of theselected word, said relevant words comprising a word or phrase that isfrequently used together with the selected word; and displaying said atleast one extracted relevant word.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: updating word information included in the database toreflect the input selected word.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein themessage creation menu selected in the input expected word extractingstep corresponds to a reply message creation menu.
 5. The method ofclaim 4, further comprising: receiving a short message from an externalsource; and analyzing the received short message for at least one ofcontent and syntax, wherein at least one input expected word set tocorrespond to the analyzed short message is extracted.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the database comprises a word list database includingwords with a usage frequency number in one or more short messages thatis larger than a pre-set number and a user information databaseincluding a phone book and schedule information.
 7. The method of claim6, wherein the word list database stores a plurality of words grouped byrelevant words, wherein said relevant words comprising a word or phrasethat is frequently used together with the selected word.
 8. The methodof claim 6, wherein the word list database stores at least one sentence,a phrase, a word-phrase, or a word included in a reception message bymatching input expected words with said at least one sentence, a phrase,a word-phrase, or a word included in a reception message.
 9. The methodof claim 6, wherein the word list database stores input expected wordsaccording to each phone number to which a short message is sent.
 10. Themethod of claim 5, wherein analyzing the received short message includesdividing the received short message into sentences, phrases,word-phrases, words, or special words.
 11. The method of claim 5,wherein analyzing the received short message includes analyzing asentence form of at least one sentence included in the received shortmessage.
 12. The method of claim 2, wherein each relevant word isdisplayed with a higher priority than the input expected words displayedin the input expected word display step.
 13. The method of claim 1,wherein extracting at least one word comprises: determining a priorityof the at least one input expected word which has been extracted. 14.The method of claim 13, further comprising: displaying an input expectedword with a subsequent priority level when a command for deleting aportion of the at least one input expected word is input.
 15. A portableterminal for automatically creating a short message, comprising: astorage unit for storing at least one word; an input expected wordextracting unit for extracting an input expected word among the at leastone word stored in the storage unit; a priority determining unit fordetermining a priority level of the extracted input expected word; and adisplay unit for displaying the extracted input expected word accordingto the determined priority level to a text message creation window. 16.The portable terminal of claim 15, further comprising: an updating unitfor updating a list of the at least one word stored in the storage unitaccording to a word selected by a user from among the displayed inputexpected words.
 17. The portable terminal of claim 15, furthercomprising: a message analyzing unit for discriminating q received shortmessage by sentence, by phrase, by word-phrase, by word or by specialcharacter, or analyzing a sentence form included in the received shortmessage so that a short message is created that is responsive to thereceived short message.
 18. The portable terminal of claim 17, whereinthe message analyzing unit analyzes the received short message for atleast one of content and syntax.